Bill W. & Dr. Bob Returns to Illusion Theater, 2/4-3/6

When audiences repeatedly request a beloved play, theaters may try to comply within a few years or so. But when the BILL W. & DR. BOB cast told Director Michael Robins that they would "make their schedules work" if Illusion Theater would remount the 2009 show, Producing Directors Bonnie Morris and Robins knew they had to bring back the inspirational production.

Opening February 4 and running through March 6, 2011, Bill W. & Dr. Bob returns to the downtown Minneapolis theater just 14 months after the show's area premiere in September 2009. The original cast of the award-winning play about a friendship that changed the world - Phillip Callan (Bill W.), Beth Gilleland (Anne Smith), Angie Haigh (Woman), Terry Hempleman (Dr. Bob), Michael Paul Levin (Man) and Carolyn Pool (Lois Wilson) - remains intact. Michael Robins will again direct.

A universal human story of the dangers of isolation and the healing power of fellowship, Bill W. & Dr. Bob is told with passion, humor and authenticity. In 1929, famous New York stockbroker Bill Wilson crashes with the stock market and becomes a hopeless drunk. Dr. Bob Smith, a surgeon from Ohio, has also been an alcoholic for 30 years, often going into the operating room with a hangover. Through an astonishing series of events, Bill W. and Dr. Bob meet and form a relationship, helping to keep each other sober. Written by Stephen Bergman and Janet Surrey, this is the amazing and often amusing account of the two men who pioneered Alcoholics Anonymous, as well as the story of their wives, who founded Al Anon. (This work does not imply affiliation with nor approval or endorsement from Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.)

Facilitated audience discussions were an important part of the original run, and will continue to follow each performance of Bill W. & Dr. Bob. In addition, to make the show available to as many people as possible, each Sunday evening performance will be designated "Pay-What-You-Can."

"When we first produced BILL W & DR. BOB, we were all so moved by how much our production touched people's lives. There were comments, testimonials and, some nights, complete audiences that stayed after to talk. During one of the discussions, a guest remarked that social historians have said that the founding of AA was one of two or three seminal things to happen in the 20th Century to change the world. Pretty heady stuff, but it seems consistent with what this play shines a light on and what these two men accomplished," said Robins. "It is a pleasure to bring this immensely talented group of artists back together to find new depths, nuances and surprises," he added.

Tickets for Bill W. & Dr. Bob are $15-$30. Group discounts are available for groups of 10 or more people. Pay-What-You-Can performances will be offered on Sundays, February 13, 20, 27 and March 6, 2011. Tickets are available at the Illusion Theater Box Office at 612-339-4944 or online at www.illusiontheater.org.

The theater is located on the 8th floor in the Hennepin Center for the Arts at 528 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis. The building is on the corner of 6th Street and Hennepin Avenue, just one block from Metro Transit's Hiawatha Light-Rail Line.

Photo credit: Lauren B Photography

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